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The bounty of film events for Black History Month includes several special screenings at Kuumba at Harbourfront Centre. A new documentary by Damon Kwame Mason about the little acknowledged contributions of black athletes in ice hockey, Soul on Ice: Past, Present and Future plays free at the Studio Theatre on Feb. 5 (it’s also at the Carlton for the Toronto Black Film Festival on Feb. 13). Another provocative new doc, Hustlers Convention examines the creation and legacy of the like-titled 1973 album by Last Poets co-founder Jalal Mansur Nuriddin working under the pseudonym Lightnin’ Rod — a vanguard album that mixed poetry, funk, jazz and a proto-gangsta street-level view of African-American urban culture, it’s long been revered by DJs and MCs as a cornerstone of hip-hop. The film plays the Studio Theatre free on Feb. 6. The NFB hosts kid-friendly programs of shorts celebrating Afro-Canadian culture on Feb. 6 and 7, too.

Toronto Black Film Festival

'The Two of Us' is the opening night film for Toronto Black Film Festival. A coming-of-age story that follows young siblings Thulani and Zanele, whose relationship is strained when Zanele falls for an older man and plans to use him to escape her bleak surroundings.

What with the diversity issues becoming the big story at the Oscars (and in the film industry at large), the arrival of the Toronto Black Film Festival couldn’t be timelier. The fourth edition launches Feb. 10 at the Isabel Bader Theatre with Thina Sobabili (The Two of Us), a coming-of-age drama that was South Africa’s most recent submission for the Academy Awards’ foreign-language category. Much of the creative team will be on hand for the event — other special guests at the TBFF include Alfre Woodard, the subject of a tribute at the screening of the new American indie drama Knucklehead at Jackman Hall on Feb. 13. A busy slate of screenings, panels and other events takes place all weekend at the Carlton, College Boreal and Alliance Francaise. The TBFF runs to Feb. 14.

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What an Idiot

An indie rom-com that debuted at the Whistler film fest before picking up awards at the LA Comedy Fest and Canadian Comedy Awards, What an Idiot stars Peter Benson as a newly divorced dude whose burgeoning romance with his beautiful new boss is complicated by the fact that he told her he was gay. The same strategy typically had iffy results for Jack Tripper on Three’s Company but it may be worth a shot. Also the movie’s writer and director, Benson co-stars with his wife Julia Benson, a former cast member of SGU Stargate Universe. What an Idiot opens Feb. 5 at the Kingsway ahead of its VOD/iTunes release on Feb. 9.

What an Idiot begins a run in Toronto.

A Date With Miss Fortune

This weekend also sees the release of another Canadian rom-com, except this time with cameos by Nelly Furtado and George Stromboulopoulos! A Date With Miss Fortune stars Ryan Scott as an American writer who must navigate the complexities of both modern romance and cultural differences when he falls hard for a Portuguese woman played by Jeanette Sousa. It opens Feb. 5 at Cineplex’s Yonge-Dundas and Vaughan locations before its debut on VOD and iTunes May 9.

Great Digital Film Festival

A Date With Miss Fortune stars Ryan Scott as an American writer who must navigate the complexities of both modern romance and cultural differences when he falls hard for a Portuguese woman played by Jeanette Sousa.

Cineplex’s annual (and enjoyably boisterous) festival of HD projections of genre and cult faves runs Feb. 5-11 at Scotiabank Theatre. Along with trusty fan-boy-and-girl-approved fare like Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Serenity and Labyrinth, the 2016 slate includes relative newbies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Inception as well as the more seldom-screened Runaway Train and the original Dirty Harry. And isn’t it about time you traumatized your children with their first screening of The Dark Crystal?

4th Man Out

An American indie comedy that won some love at LGBTQ film fests (including Inside Out), 4th Man Out puts a fresh spin on both twenty-something slacker sagas and coming-out stories with its tale of a newly out 24-year-old mechanic whose straight buddies take it upon themselves to improve his chances of finding love in their blue-collar town. Andrew Nackman’s first feature opens Feb. 5 at the Carlton.

The late David Bowie plays an evil goblin king in the fantasy adventure Labyrinth.

In brief:

The Bloor presents two new portraits of women who had profound effects on American arts and culture, albeit in very different realms. Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, about the legendary gallery owner, and Janis: Little Blue Girl, a look at the ill-fated rock legend Janis Joplin, both open Feb. 5.

A sci-fi comedy by Monty Python’s Terry Jones starring Simon Pegg as a teacher who suddenly gains super powers, Absolutely Anything starts a run at the Carlton on Feb. 5.

Jon Gabrus is one of the stars of 4th Man Out. (Gravitas Ventur)

Pleasure Dome hosts a weekend of events with American film and video artist Charles Atlas that includes two screenings at Steelworkers Hall on Feb. 6 and a book launch and artist talk at Trinity Square Video on Feb. 7.

First-time director (and Bloor staff member) Jane Hui Wang presents Last Harvest, her look at the impact of massive change in rural China, at the Bloor on Feb. 9.

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